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American Truck Group Builds "Green" Mississippi Dealership

American Truck Group and its CEO, Louis "Louie" J. Normand Jr., have built a new "green" truck dealership in Gulfport, Miss.

Normand spent many months of planning and testing ideas for heat and air, lighting and washing trucks. He decided on LED truck technology to light the dealership and built an LED panel that is run by banks of 12-volt batteries that are "trickle charged." The lights will last for years and use considerably less than traditional 110-volt electric. The lights are used throughout the dealership and the panels are also used to light the parking lot.

In the truck wash the LED lights can be run by the 12-volt battery banks, 110 electricity and also are being set up to run off of power from a steam engine that will run on used motor oil American Truck Group captures from the oil changes is performs. Normand wanted to find a way to not only avoid disposing of waste motor oil but also to convert it into a fuel.

The heat and air throughout the dealership is provided by individual remotely controlled units by means of inverter technology. The cost of running the units is significantly less than traditional central systems.

The truck wash, which operates under the Pro Wash Systems LLC patent that Normand developed, is a "closed loop" truck wash, the only one in the country, ATG says. The "closed loop" refers to the water that is used, filtered and recycled for additional truck washes. The entire dealership site has drainage that flows to the large retention pond. From there, the water flows through a series of filters making it virtually drinkable, the company says.

Another item that Normand has added is the wildlife habitat on top of a small building used for wheel buffing. Wetlands plants grow here, and birds can nest.